disturbing lab

So... (yes, school, again)

About three weeks ago now, we had a lab where for half of it we watched videos of strange stuff, and for half of it we tested reflexes and brain stuff on each other.

The second half wasn't bad. I did lose my ring, tho... and learned I have a freaking huuuuuge blind spot in my right eye. Big surprise.

The video, tho, was really disturbing. We watched (and were lectured on) a decerebrated frog, pigeon (here after called "flying rat") and a cat.

Just in case you don't get what that means, they take out all the fun parts of the brain, and basically just leave a pulse and respiration. Oh, and reflexes. Sort of.

So first was the frog. Who stood funny, kinda hunched. Didn't go anywhere, obviously, since it's brain was gone. Then they showed a frog with a cut across... brain stem, maybe? something like that. It looked like green slime. I'm not sure it was really alive. It was gross. Anyway, they played with those two (and a live, brain having one) for a couple minutes, then suddenly there's one pinned thru what I'm gonna call the nose, and they're doing weird stuff to it. Good thing I don't eat frogs.

Then the pigeon. Apparently, when you take a flying rat's brain away, it's still a flying rat. A blind one, and totally uninterested in food or other rats, but still, it flies, leans, does all it's need to move stuff just fine. Damned flying rats. The made one (I think it still had a brain) ride around on a birdy merry-go-round, to watch its head tick. Funness.

Then it was on to the interesting stuff. Ten minutes of kittens, some guy in a cage with 10 kittens, and all the neato stuff you can do with a live, healthy cat (if you don't like your arms), like drop it from not very high and upside down and watch it flip around. Or make it's head spin. Or about half a dozen other things.

Then suddenly we're in a lab. And there is a cat in what cen best be described as a cat stand. A cat which, missing most of it's brain (and looking like, rather than put the skin and stuff back, they just painted over the skull with tar) was acting like my mothers dog. Just kinda lying there with its tongue out. 'parently, when you take out the front of a cat's brain, it isn't really a cat anymore. The guy couldn't get it to do any of the stuff a "normal" cat would, even when he flipped it over (showing off a wicked trach(sp)) to show that it wouldn't flip its head around. I don't think he dropped it tho... It woulda kinda gone "thunk".

So there's a floppy beanbag cat, without a brain (basically) and this guy just flipping it around. On the video. For us. Well, and "many" classes in the past. They're supposed to be old videos. Ok....

Yeah, really gross.

Did I mention I get tested on this?

blech.

j.